Our New Family Member

Murphy

Several weeks ago, we met Murphy (a registered Golden Retriever) at PetSmart. A nice retired couple owned Murphy and were having trouble with his energy level. They’d had him for three years, (I found out this morning that Murphy is a registered purebred. How cool!) and as things go, were becoming more and more frustrated with their inability to manage Murphy’s energy level. 

There’s an interesting phenomenon I’ve witnessed with dogs and owners. We sometimes get “tired of it/them (the dogs)”. I KNOW dogs sense our attitude at any given time. And when we start to lose patience with them, we get more tense and a downward spiral has begun. They start pulling harder on walks; we pull back. They want to walk faster and pull us down the stairs; we don’t want to walk them as often. They get bored and chew our slippers; we think they are getting out of control. Then they pull really hard; we stop walking them. They get VERY bored….

Lexi

We brought Murphy home and took him outside to play with Lexi, our German Shepherd. Lexi is a tad shy around new dogs. She was adopted as a stray from a pound, so we don’t know what her “other dog” experience is. But Lexi & Murphy PLAYED in the yard for over an hour. Poor guy is a tad overweight and, with all that fur, drank more water than we could track. It was great to see Lexi having fun PLAYING. It was great to see Murphy having a blast too.

Murphy and I went on a nice walk last night. By the time we got back, he was loose-leash healing and sitting on stop (on his own)! So when you look for help with your “high energy” dog, look to his activity level and maybe even your attitude!

Oh, by the way, yes we do bring dogs here to board and train, but this story has a cool, happy ending! In this case, the couple realized that maybe with their age advancing and Murphy needing more interaction and challenge, they offered to allow us to adopt Murphy! So now Murphy is running around our big yard with Lexi having a blast! This morning, Paula brought her dog, Sequia, over to play too, so all three dogs had about an hour of fun time. Thanks to the people who knew they were giving Murphy a great home!

PS. If you’re in the Stark County, OH, area this Thursday (July 9th), The Puparazzi Pet Boutique is having their grand-opening/ribbon cutting. Stop by and visit! We’ll be there with our dogs. Come and meet Lexi and Murphy.

Tags: German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Lexi, Murphy, Observations, socialize, Stark County OH